CONVENTION ON ROAD TRAFFIC

The Contracting Parties, desiring to facilitate international road traffic and to increase road safety through the adoption of uniform traffic rules, have agreed upon the following provisions:

Chapter VI

FINAL PROVISIONS

ARTICLE 45

1. This Convention shall be open at United Nations Headquarters, New York, until 31 December 1969 for signature by all States Members of the United Nations or of any of the specialized agencies or of the International Atomic Energy Agency or Parties to the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and by any other State invited by the General Assembly of the United Nations to become a Party to the Convention.

2. This Convention is subject to ratification. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

3. This Convention shall remain open for accession by any of the States referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the Secretary-General.

4. On signing this Convention or on depositing its instrument of ratification or accession, each State shall notify the Secretary-General of the distinguishing sign it has selected for display in international traffic on vehicles registered by it, in accordance with Annex 3 to this Convention. By a further notification addressed to the Secretary-General, any State may change a distinguishing sign it has previously selected.

ARTICLE 46

1. Any State may, at the time of signing or ratifying this Convention, or of acceding thereto, or at any time thereafter, declare by notification addressed to the Secretary-General that the Convention shall become applicable to all or any of the territories for the international relations of which it is responsible. The Convention shall become applicable to the territory or territories named in the notification thirty days after the receipt of the notification by the Secretary-General or on the date of entry into force of the Convention for the State making the notification, whichever is the later.

2. Any State which has made a declaration under paragraph 1 of this Article may at any time thereafter declare by notification addressed to the Secretary-General that the Convention shall cease to be applicable to the territory named in the notification and the Convention shall cease to be applicable to such territory one year from the date of receipt by the Secretary-General of the notification.

3. A State making a notification under paragraph 1 of this Article shall notify the Secretary-General of the distinguishing sign or signs it has selected for display in international traffic on vehicles registered in the territory or territories concerned, in accordance with Annex 3 to this Convention. By a further notification addressed to the Secretary-General, any State may change a distinguishing sign it has previously selected.

ARTICLE 47

1. This Convention shall enter into force twelve months after the date of deposit of the fifteenth instrument of ratification or accession.

2. For each State ratifying or acceding to this Convention after the deposit of the fifteenth instrument of ratification or accession, the Convention shall enter into force twelve months after the date of deposit by such State of its instrument of ratification or accession.

ARTICLE 48

Upon its entry into force, this Convention shall terminate and replace, in relations between the Contracting Parties, the International Convention relative to Motor Traffic and the International Convention relative to Road Traffic, both signed at Paris on 24 April 1926, the Convention on the Regulation of Inter-American Automotive Traffic, opened for signature at Washington on 15 December 1943, and the Convention on Road Traffic, opened for signature at Geneva on 19 September 1949.

ARTICLE 49

1. After this Convention has been in force for one year, any Contracting Party may propose one or more amendments to the Convention. The text of any proposed amendment, accompanied by an explanatory memorandum, shall be transmitted to the Secretary-General, who shall communicate it to all Contracting Parties. The Contracting Parties shall have the opportunity of informing him within a period of twelve months following the date of its circulation whether they (a) accept the amendment; or (b) reject the amendment; or (c) wish that a conference be convened to consider the amendment. The Secretary-General shall also transmit the text of the proposed amendment to all other States referred to in Article 45, paragraph 1 of this Convention.

2. (a) Any proposed amendment communicated in accordance with the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to be accepted if within the period of twelve months referred to in the preceding paragraph less than one-third of the Contracting Parties inform the Secretary-General that they either reject the amendment or wish that a conference be convened to consider it. The Secretary-General shall notify all Contracting Parties of each acceptance or rejection of any proposed amendment and of requests that a conference be convened. If the total number of such rejections and requests received during the specified period of twelve months is less than one-third of the total number of Contracting Parties, the Secretary-General shall notify all Contracting Parties that the amendment will enter into force six months after the expiry of the period of twelve months referred to in the preceding paragraph for all Contracting Parties except those which, during the period specified, have rejected the amendment or requested the convening of a conference to consider it.

(b) Any Contracting Party which, during the said period of twelve months, has rejected a proposed amendment or requested the convening of a conference to consider it may at any time after the end of such period notify the Secretary-General that it accepts the amendment, and the Secretary-General shall communicate such notification to all the other Contracting Parties. The amendment shall enter into force, with respect to the Contracting Parties which have notified their acceptance, six months after receipt by the Secretary-General of their notification.

3. If a proposed amendment has not been accepted in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article and if within the period of twelve months specified in paragraph 1 of this Article less than half of the total number of the Contracting Parties inform the Secretary-General that they reject the proposed amendment and if at least one-third of the total number of Contracting Parties, but not less than ten, inform him that they accept it or wish a conference to be convened to consider it, the Secretary-General shall convene a conference for the purpose of considering the proposed amendment or any other proposal which may be submitted to him in accordance with paragraph 4 of this Article.

4. If a conference is convened in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article, the Secretary-General shall invite to it all States referred to in Article 45, paragraph 1 of this Convention. He shall request all States invited to the conference to submit to him, at least six months before its opening date, any proposals which they may wish the conference to consider in addition to the proposed amendment and shall communicate such proposals, at least three months before the opening date of the conference, to all States invited to the conference.

5. (a) Any amendment to this Convention shall be deemed to be accepted if it has been adopted by a two-thirds majority of the States represented at the conference, provided that such majority comprises at least two-thirds of Contracting Parties represented at the conference. The Secretary-General shall notify all Contracting Parties of the adoption of the amendment, and the amendment shall enter into force twelve months after the date of his notification for all Contracting Parties except those which during that period have notified the Secretary-General that they reject the amendment.

(b) A Contracting Party which has rejected an amendment during the said period of twelve months may at any time notify the Secretary-General that it accepts the amendment, and the Secretary-General shall communicate such notification to all the other Contracting Parties. The amendment shall enter into force, with respect to the Contracting Party which has notified its acceptance, six months after receipt by the Secretary-General of the notification or at the end of the said period of twelve months, whichever is later.

6. If the proposed amendment is not deemed to be accepted pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article and if the conditions prescribed by paragraph 3 of this Article for convening a conference are not fulfilled, the proposed amendment shall be deemed to be rejected.

ARTICLE 50

Any Contracting Party may denounce this Convention by written notification addressed to the Secretary-General. The denunciation shall take effect one year after the date of receipt by the Secretary-General of such notification.

ARTICLE 51

This Convention shall cease to be in force if the number of Contracting Parties is less than five for any period of twelve consecutive months.

ARTICLE 52

Any dispute between two or more Contracting Parties which relates to the interpretation or application of this Convention and which the Parties are unable to settle by negotiation or other means of settlement may be referred, at the request of any of the Contracting Parties concerned, to the International Court of Justice for decision.

ARTICLE 53

Nothing in this Convention shall be construed as preventing a Contracting Party from taking such action, compatible with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and limited to the exigencies of the situation, as it considers necessary to its external or internal security.

ARTICLE 54

1. Any State may, at the time of signing this Convention or of depositing its instrument of ratification or accession, declare that it does not consider itself bound by Article 52 of this Convention. Other Contracting Parties shall not be bound by Article 52 with respect to any Contracting Party which has made such a declaration.

2. At the time of depositing its instrument of ratification or accession, any State may, by notification addressed to the Secretary-General, declare that for the purposes of the application of the Convention it treats mopeds as motor cycles (Article 1 (n)).

By notification addressed to the Secretary-General, any State may subsequently at any time withdraw its declaration.

3. The declarations provided for in paragraph 2 of this Article shall become effective six months after the date of receipt by the Secretary-General of notification of them or on the date on which the Convention enters into force for the State making the declaration, whichever is the later.

4. Any modification of a previously selected distinguishing sign notified in conformity with Article 45, paragraph 4, or Article 46, paragraph 3 of this Convention, shall take effect three months after the date on which the Secretary-General receives notification thereof.

5. Reservations to this Convention and its annexes, other than the reservation provided for in paragraph 1 of this Article, shall be permitted on condition that they are formulated in writing and, if formulated before the deposit of the instrument of ratification or accession, are confirmed in that instrument. The Secretary-General shall communicate such reservations to all States referred to in Article 45, paragraph 1, of this Convention.

6. Any Contracting Party which has formulated a reservation or made a declaration under paragraphs 1 or 4 of this Article may withdraw it at any time by notification addressed to the Secretary-General.

7. A reservation made in accordance with paragraph 5 of this Article:

(a) Modifies for the Contracting Party which made the reservation the provisions of the Convention to which the reservation relates, to the extent of the reservation;

(b) Modifies those provisions to the same extent for the other Contracting Parties in their relations with the Contracting Party which entered the reservation.

ARTICLE 55

In addition to the declarations, notifications and communications provided for in Articles 49 and 54 of this Convention, the Secretary-General shall notify all the States referred to in Article 45, paragraph 1, of the following:

(a) Signatures, ratifications and accessions under Article 45;

(b) Notifications and declarations under Article 45, paragraph 4, and Article 46;

(c) The dates of entry into force of this Convention in accordance with Article 47;

(d) The date of entry into force of amendments to this Convention in accordance with Article 49, paragraphs 2 and 5;

(e) Denunciations under Article 50;

(f) The determination of this Convention under Article 51.

ARTICLE 56

The original of this Convention, of which the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts done in a single copy are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who shall send certified true copies thereof to all the States referred to in Article 45, paragraph 1, of this Convention.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned Plenipotentiaries, being duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Convention.

DONE at Vienna this eighth day of November, one thousand nine hundred and sixty-eight.